Portable electronic devices such as wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart telephones and laptop computers with wireless capabilities have gained widespread use for a variety of functions. Such devices are commonly used for communication purposes including transportation of data, and run on a wide variety of networks from data-only networks such as Mobitex and DataTAC to complex voice and data networks such as GSM/GPRS, CDMA, EDGE, UMTS and CDMA 2000 networks.
These portable electronic devices are commonly used for communication, for example, for sending and receiving electronic mail (e-mail), SMS messages (short message service, commonly referred to as text messages) and PIN messages (Personal Identification Number messages). For voice-enabled devices such as smart telephones for example, voice communication in the form of telephone calls can be initiated and received at the portable electronic devices.
Copies of e-mail messages sent and received are stored in a third-party database such as an Exchange™ database controlled by a server, for example, an Exchange™ server. During synchronization of a portable electronic device with a communication system connected to the Exchange server through a connector, the status of e-mails is synchronized as well as the folder in which e-mails are filed. For example, e-mails that are opened at the portable electronic device are deemed to be opened at the database. Changes in status such as a change from unopened to opened are therefore synchronized. With the exception of synchronization of the status of e-mails on the portable electronic device, e-mails on the Exchange™ database are not locally controlled by the portable electronic device.